Improvement in lamp-wicks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW J UDSON WHITE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEM ENT IN LAM P-WICKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,349, dated April 28, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, AND EW J UDsoN WHITE, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, in the State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Lamp-Wick; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying sample of lamp-wick.

The nature of my invention consists of making by means of machinery a lamp-wick of unspun cotton, flax, orjute, either of roving or drawing, covered on its outer surface and fastened together with gluten. D

To enable others skilled in the art to make use of my invention, I will proceed to give the mode of-its manufacture and describe the materials from which it is made.

I make from cotton, flax, or jute what is termed by cotton-spinners drawing or roving by the ordinary methods used in making the roving for spinning into yarn. This roving, being Wound on bobbins of convenient size, and the bobbins being placed in frames so as to admit of being freely and easily unwound, is drawn from the bobbins by means of a pair of small rollers, when it is'made to pass through a vat of dissolved gluten, made either of flour, starch, or glue. As it passes out of the gluten it is made to pass through small tubes of the proper shape to give it the proper size and form of the wick to be manufactured. After compressing the wick in this manner into the desired form and size, it is made to pass through heated air and overheated cylinders until it becomes dry, when it is cut into the desired length for use by means of a revolving knife.

Now, I do notclaim that the process of manufacture is original or as part of my invention. It is similar to the processes used in making paper; but what I claim as my invention is the wick itself, it being an entirely new original article, possessing very superior qualities.

The comparatively straight and unspun fibers forming the body of the wick afford more and better capillaries for carrying up the oil.

The wick made of hard-twisted woven yarn does not admit of a free passage of the oil from the lamp to the bnrningpointot the Wick. This is more especially so with oil that contains no benzine.

Oil without benzine can be burned with great brilliancy by means of my 'wiek, which will be conceded to be a blessing to mankind when we are aware that the only danger from the burning of oils is the presence of benzine in its composition.

When a wick can be furnished that will consume oil containing no benzine, giving a good and suflicient light, this dangerous element of oil will be excluded, and lamp-explosions will cease.

The Wick made of unspun cotton, flax, or jute is much more easily trimmed, as it does not gum like the hard-twisted wick.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A machine-made wick composed of unspun cotton, flax, or jute, covered and held together with gluten.

ANDREW J UDSON WHITE.

Witnesses:

CHARLES NETTLETON, JAMES HARRISON. 

